Ballad
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The popular ballads, or cantilènes, as French writers have styled them, where the exploits of the great Charles were sung and handed down from his own to later days, formed at once the basis of the longer chansons de geste and of such spurious relations as Turpin's Chronicle. Wholly distinct from sober history, as recorded in works such as Eginhart's "Memoir of Charlemagne," written in Latin, and therefore accessible to but few, they were composed in the language of the people, uncommitted to writing, and consequently subject to all the diversifying and differentiating influences of oral tradition."--History of Fiction (1814) by John Colin Dunlop |
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A ballad is a story, usually a narrative or poem, in a song. Any story form may be told as a ballad, such as historical accounts or fairy tales in verse form. It usually has foreshortened, alternating four stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes, often with a refrain.
If it is based on political or religious theme, a ballad may be a hymn. It should not be confused with the ballade, a 14th and 15th century French verse form.
Music
Examples
Famous traditional pop and jazz standard ballads include:
- "Over the Rainbow" – Harold Arlen
- "Body and Soul" – Johnny Green
- "Misty" – Erroll Garner
- "The Man I Love" – George Gershwin
- "My Funny Valentine" – Rodgers and Hart
- "God Bless the Child" – Billie Holiday
- "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" – Cole Porter
- "Naima" – John Coltrane (an instrumental ballad)
- "Lush Life" – Billy Strayhorn
- "In a Sentimental Mood" – Duke Ellington
- "'Round Midnight" – Thelonious Monk
- "Always" - Irving Berlin
